Method of making ornamental chains



Sept. 30, 1941.

K. WACKER 2,257,356

METHOD OF MAKING ORNAMENTAL CHAINS Original Filed Feb, 13, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet l qr} 23 III ii a;

.5' f 50 w y 4 49 i w 5 I 1' r y INVENTOR a7 2, Ii fid/w iii? ATTORNEY Sept. 30, 1941. K. WACKER 2,257,356

METHOD OF MAKING ORNAMENTAL CHAINS Original Filed Feb. 13, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented Sept. 30, 1941 Karl Wacker, Pforzheim, Germany, assignor to Armbrust Chain Company, acorporation of Rhode Island Original application February 13, 1939, Serial No.

256,073, now Patent No. 2,229,149, dated Januany 21; 1941. Divided and this application January 3, 1940, Serial No. 312,282

2 Claims.

This application is a division of application Serial No. 256,073, filedFebruary 13, 1939, for Ornamental chain.

My present invention relates to the jewelry art, and has particular reference to a novel machine for making ornamental chains.

It is the principal object of my invention to provide an automatic mechanism which is particularly suitable for the production of hollow chain links. 7

Another object of my invention is to provide an automatic mechanism which will permit manufacture of hollow chains having a designed cross section.

An additional object of my invention is to provide a novelmechanism of the type described for the manufacture of ornamental filled links.

With the above objects and other advantageous features in view. my invention consists of a novel arrangement of parts more fully disclosed in the detailed description following, in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and more specifically defined in the claims appended thereto. 1

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a novel machine arrangement for use with a standard chain making machine;

Fig. 2 is a side view thereof;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section through Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the upper rear portion of the forming die;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the lower rear portion of the forming die;

Fig. 5a is a perspective View of a modified W- er rear portion of the forming die;

Fig. 6 is a vertical section of the front portion of the former die;

Fig. '7 is a sectional detail showing the housing for the forming die;

Fig. 8 is a section on the line 8-8 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of a strip of ornamental metal;

Fig. 10 is a perspective view showing. the forming of the sheet strip into tubular form after passage through the former die;

Fig. 11 is a perspective View of a filler rod;

Fig. 12 is a perspective view of the shaping of the strip, using the filler rod of Fig. 11; and

Fig. 13 is a perspective view of the novel helical coil formed.

It has been found desirable to provide an attachment for a chain making machine, which will automatically manufacture ornamental chain links of either hollow or filled construction.

To this end, I have provided a novel former die arrangement which receives a flat strip of ornamental metal, as from a roll, and shapes the ornamental metal into tubular form, an inner filler being used if desired. After the ornamental metal has-been shaped into tubular form, it is received by a screw feedergwhich automatically windsthe shaped tubular metal into'helical form and feeds the helical tubular metal to the standard cutting and joining mechanism of the chain machine.

Referring to the drawings, the novel attachment 2!) includes a power actuated crank 2| which is pivotally connected as at 22 to; an oscillating rack 23; mounted for sliding movement in the frame of the chain machine. The rack 23 meshes'with a geared hub 24 which is rotatably supported in a fixed bearing 25, the hub 24 having a central bore 26 within which a shaft 2'! is slidably mounted. As shown in Fig. 3, the hub 24 has an annular collar 28 keyed thereto in any desired manner, thisannular collar having a plurality of rods 29 which are parallel to and concentric with shaft 21, mounted therein and locked thereto by means of set screws 30; A hub 3| is keyed or otherwise secured to the shaft 21, as by-mea ns of'lock screws 32, and has a plurality of transverse parallel bores 33 which slidably receive the rods 29.

A worm gear 34 is keyed to one end of the shaft 21, as by means of a lock screw 35, and is provided with a helical groove 36, the worm gear being rotatably supported in a fixed bearing 31 which has a fixed pin 38 secured thereto and extending into the groove 36, whereby oscillation of the shaft 21 and the worm gear 34 produce a reciprocation of the shaft. The end of the shaft is formed with a spiral worm 39, having a helical groove 40 for the purpose hereinafter described.

Referring to Figs. 4 to 8, the chain machine is provided with a stationary housing arrangement 4| for receiving the former die, a circular recess 42 therein housing the die, and an aperture 43 being provided in the forward portion of the housing for the exit of the shaped tubular strip. A front former die 44 is seated in the forward portion of the cavity 42, and has a conical bore 45; two rear former dies cooperate with the front die, these dies respectively consisting of an upper half die 45 having a convex portion 41 and a lower rear portion 48 having a tapered flat recessed seat 49 and a central arcuate portion 50, the upper and lower die portions fitting as shown in Fig. 8. If desired, the lower die may be shaped as indicated at 5| in Fig. 5a, with a flat recessed slanted portion 52, the central arcuate portion being omitted.

I A strip of ornamental metal 53 such as disclosed in Fig. 9, which is preferably in a roll, is fed into the rear portion of the former die on the recessed surface 49. A stationary rod 54, having a conical end, is positioned to seat in the recess 50, so that forward movement of the strip 53 shapes the strip to provide a tubular rod 54 as disclosed in Fig. 10. If it be desirable to use a filler, a rod of filler material 55 may be inserted in the arcuate die cavity 50, and the tubu lar rod 56, as disclosedin Fig. 12, will then have a filler in the center thereof, whereby inexpensive material may be used inside the outer layer of more expensive ornamental material.

Referring now to Fig. 3, the tubular rod emerging from the former die is wound into the groove 4i! of the shaft extension 39, the size of the groove 40 preferably gradually increasing slightly toward the free end, so as to provide greater frictional engagement at the initial winding of the tubular rod with the sides and bottom of the groove 40. With the tubular rod initially wound into the groove 40, operating the machine actuates the crank and thus rocks the rack to impart an oscillating motion to the shaft 21, whereby engagement of the fixed pin 38 with the helical groove 36 feeds the shaft 21 and its spiral end 39 forwardly and backwardly during the revolution of the crank, the forward feeding gripping the tubular rod 54 and winding it forwardly into a helical coil' 51, and the backward movement winding the shaft end back through the helical coil 51, the helical coil giving sufficiently to permit free backward movement of the shaft end and thus exposing an end portion 58 of a size to form at least one link to the cutting mechanism of the chain machine.

The groove 40 may be 'cut to accommodate any desired shape orcross section of the tubular rod, wherebya former die of appropriate shape and a matching thread 40 cooperate to form links of desired contour, which are either hollow, or are solid with a filler of metal or other suitable material. a

The novel machine attachment thus forms strips of ornamental material into tubular form of any desired cross section, winds the tubular formed material into helical form, and feeds the helical tubular material forwardly so as to expose sufiicient length thereof to permit cutting for forming a chain portion, the forward movement covering a winding and a resulting gripping, and the backward movement unwinding the order to obtain different sizes of links for the completed chain, different thicknesses of links, and different cross sections or contours for the links, may be made to suit the requirements for different ornamental chain designs, without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In the manufacture of ornamental chains, the steps of feeding a longitudinal strip of material through a forming die to bring the edges together and provide a tubular rod section and then through a. rotating and reciprocating helical groove die to wind the tubular rod section into a helix, and successively cutting off chain portions from the end of said helix emerging from the groove die.

2. In the manufacture of ornamental chains, 1

the steps of feeding a longitudinal strip of material through a forming die and simultaneously feeding a filler rod to bring the edges of the strip together around said filler rod for providing a tubular rod section having a filler rod positioned therein and then through to a rotating and reciprocating helical groove die to form a helix, and successively cutting off chain portions from the end of said helix emerging from the groove die.

KARL WACKER. 

